


Hand in Glove

by slightly_ajar



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluffity Fluff Fluff, hand holding, macgyver fluff challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:42:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27654287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_ajar/pseuds/slightly_ajar
Summary: There was never any doubt of who she was holding hands with, who she’d chosen and who, amazingly, had chosen her back.Written for the MacGyver Fluff Challenge.
Relationships: Angus MacGyver/Desiree "Desi" Nguyen
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Hand in Glove

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this story came from the line, “Hold my hand through plastic now,” from the song Epiphany by Taylor Swift and [this gif](https://alohasel.tumblr.com/post/631491949165264896/if-i-dont-make-it) that Alohasel posted on Tumblr.

Mac rocked his thumb over the tip of one of Desi’s fingers feeling the press of her nail in it’s pad. Desi didn’t think he was even aware he was doing it. He often sought out the sensation of the thin curves of her fingernails when they were holding hands. It happened like a habit, like the way some people reached for a talisman or sought out the comforting weight of a favourite blanket. Desi had never noticed him do that when they’d been wearing gloves while holding hands, either because he didn’t bother because of the barrier between them or she just hadn’t felt the touch. They didn’t hold hands in gloves often, but it had happened. The gloves had been disposable medical gloves, not warm woollen ones meant to keep out the chill on a crisp winter’s day. Not that Desi would mind doing that. She enjoyed brisk walks on cold mornings and it had been a long time since she’d seen snow. Being the first person to leave a trail of footsteps in your wake as you crunched onto freshly fallen drifts was always satisfying and it would be just as good to have two lines of prints side by side. Better even. Two sets of footprints, two clouds of steaming breath, two red noses and two sets of bright pink cheeks - the idea was delightful. Desi had always wanted to build an igloo and was willing to bet good money that Mac knew how to make one. Having her fingers kept warm by thick wool and Mac’s grip would be a very nice part of a very nice day. It might look like something from a Hallmark Christmas movie but Desi didn’t care. Lots of people like Hallmark movies, they had a charm that Desi wasn’t immune to, particularly if the film had a dog in it. 

“Is this a date?” Mac asked. 

“Pardon?” 

“This. Us. Here. Now. Does it count as a date?” 

“I-?” Desi spent a moment taking stock. She and Mac had been hungry so they’d stopped for dinner. The tapas place had been close and they’d found themselves a booth and sat next to each other sharing from too many plates. Then because the evening was warm they’d gone for a walk as the sun started to set. The sky hung like a stained glass window of glowing red and gold above them flecked with glints that promised stars. “You know, “ Desi said, “if you took all the pieces of what we’ve been doing for the past couple of hours and fixed them together you could definitely make something that looks like a date.” 

“I was just thinking that.” Mac tugged Desi closer with their joined hands and added, “I like how you said that in a way that made this evening sound like a piece of engineering.” 

“Well, I have been spending a lot of time with you.” 

When Desi and Mac had first held hands they’d been on a Phoenix op and had been wearing plastic gloves for cover maintaining purposes. Them twining their latex covered fingers together had happened again since then, that time at the hospital, but Desi didn’t like to think about that. The sensation of her hand squeezing Mac’s without feeling the warmth of his skin as the gurney had raced towards the Emergency Room had been terrible. She hadn’t felt him nor him her. That being their last touch would have been as devastating as a betrayal, the loss would have ached like the cold emptiness left behind when what you’re clutching to you is wrenched from your arms. But it had all been okay in the end. They’d walked out of the hospital together, one of them favouring their right side, and they hadn’t looked back. Desi had put the memory of that day in a box that she’d padlocked shut and dropped into the deep, deep well in her mind where things simply labelled ‘No’ were kept. 

“I’m sorry to be a bad influence.” 

“I don’t have a problem with you influencing me, I carry this everywhere with me now.” Desi reached into her pocket and pulled out her Swiss Army Knife. “It’s been useful” 

Mac chuckled. “Never leave home without one.” 

Desi flicked one of her knife’s tools open with her thumbnail. “I still haven’t worked out what this is for though.” She held her gadget up and moved it from side to side to show the odd shaped metal attachment off from every angle. 

“It’s for taking stones out of horse’s hooves.” 

“Have you ever actually taken a stone out of a horse’s hoof?” 

“Not yet, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.” 

So Mac and Desi’s first time holding hands had been on a mission. There had been something very _‘Mac’_ in the sensation of the vinyl squeaking between their joint palms, something familiar and new and out of the ordinary, something quirky and funny and exhilarating. The feeling had made Desi smile at the time and since she could sell her grin as part of their Scientists Who Were Dating cover she didn’t bother altering her expression. 

They’d worn gloves to avoid leaving finger prints too, leather ones that looked like the kind of thing needed when abseiling from a ceiling on a mission that was classed as impossible. They’d grasped hands then as well, for one of them to pull the other back up over a ledge, but Desi still thought it counted.

Desi was capable of self-reflection, she wasn’t always great at expressing the emotions she found in herself but she could recognise them and knew herself well enough to know she loved the excitement and challenges of her job. Being able to hold hands with Mac on missions was a bonus, like sprinkles covering an adrenaline drizzled cake, but being with Mac when they weren’t running, dodging bullets and creating explosions was the best of times.

“Maybe that’s the secret to a really good date,” Mac said. They reached a curve in the path and by silent mutual agreement turned and headed back the way they’d come from. Mac gave Desi’s hand a playful squeeze and she felt the small scar at the base of his forefinger catch against her skin. She would know his hands by the feel of their calluses and scars out of a line-up of thousands. There was never any doubt of who she was holding hands with, who she’d chosen and who, amazingly, had chosen her back. “Sneaking up on the date.” Mac added. “Not looking it in the eye until you’re too far in to it for it to turn on you.” 

“Stealth dating like ninjas?” Desi said. “I like it.” 

There were things it was best to approach like ninjas, sneakily and from the shadows, but some things should be faced like a Samurai would, standing firm, staring what needed to be faced in the eye and refusing to be intimidated. After Desi and Mac admitted they weren’t normal they stopped trying to be and everything became much easier. Desi’s mom had always told her that a problem shared was a problem halved and it turned out that was actually true. Once they’d discussed their ‘problem’ it diminished and she and Mac were able to move beyond it. 

“You’d suit one of those ninja outfits, you do look good dressed in all black,” Mac’s eyes turned soft in the way that always made a giddy warmth blossom in Desi’s chest in spite of the fact that she was a grown woman. 

“So do you.” She smiled back. 

“And those ninja suits do look comfortable, they kind of remind me of pyjamas.” 

“Who doesn’t love pyjamas?” Desi did, although she often chose to sleep in one of Mac’s T shirts. “And now I know what to get you for Christmas, I bet you can find ninja suits on Ebay.” 

Desi and Mac had held hands while undercover, before surgery, dangling from rooftops, in aeroplanes, in museums and as the moon rose and there was still that thrill, that flutter like a heartbeat made of hummingbirds wings, when their touches met. 

“As long as you get one for yourself too. I can’t go ninja dating on my own.” 

“Of course.” Desi tightened her grip on Mac’s fingers where they were laced with her own. “Wherever we go we'll go together.” 


End file.
